Arsenal's Iwobi hails Ozil impact but Emery keen on rotation

Reuters , Friday 22 Feb 2019

Arsenal
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Southampton v Arsenal - St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, Britain - December 16, 2018 Arsenal's Mesut Ozil comes on as a substitute to replace Alex Iwobi REUTERS

Arsenal midfielder Alex Iwobi praised ‘world class’ team mate Mesut Ozil for his role in Thursday’s 3-0 Europa League win over BATE Borisov, although manager Unai Emery has not guaranteed the German midfielder a starting spot going forward.

Arsenal overcame a 1-0 deficit to move into the last-16 with a 3-1 aggregate win during which Ozil, who missed the first leg in Belarus, started only his second game in the club’s last 11 fixtures in all competitions.

“He’s world class, we scored three goals as a result of him playing. I know if I make a run he has the vision to find me,” Iwobi told BT Sport.

“Hopefully he can keep on playing. We know what Mesut’s like because we see him in training every day.”

Emery was satisfied with Ozil’s ‘positive’ impact but said he would be rotated depending on the needs of the team and Arsenal’s schedule in the coming weeks.

“If he is available, like the last two weeks, we are going to play a lot of matches and maybe sometimes we need him in the starting XI and sometimes on the bench because we have a lot of players to also help us,” Emery told reporters.

“His spirit like today is good and his quality and combination with some players was good, like with Matteo Guendouzi and Alex Iwobi. Playing Mesut was important and positive today.”

Arsenal next host Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday.

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